Friday, February 22, 2013

As a DREAMer, a Californian, and a civically engaged college student, I have painfully discovered that a major source of toxicity comes from members of Congress themselves.

Since learning in high school that I was undocumented, I’ve known that people struggled with the idea of undocumented Americans living and working alongside them. But I have never before experienced the kind of naked hostility I did when I attended a meeting in Washington to discuss citizenship legislation with Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, who represents my hometown in California’s 48th district.

I have lived in Costa Mesa since my parents brought our family here when I was 3 years old, and it is the only home I have ever known. I played in TeWinkle Park with my brothers and cheered for the Mustangs at Costa Mesa High School. I was a part of the Business Academy team that placed 5th in the nation my senior year. Now I am 18 years old, working and going to college full time. Last November I went door to door to encourage people who could vote to support more funding for our schools, and because of our civic engagement we showed that Californians care about education.

I work hard, I study hard, I pay taxes, and I have applied for the deferred action program that President Barack Obama instituted last year for young undocumented Americans like me.

On Feb. 6, I went to speak with Rep. Rohrabacher at his Washington office about the need to include a roadmap to citizenship in an immigration bill. President Obama has made it clear that a roadmap to citizenship should be part of legislation, and bipartisan groups from the Senate and the House of Representatives have begun to talk seriously about creating a better immigration process for people like me and my family. Support for citizenship is growing; I was excited to talk with a member of Congress about the possibilities, even if he wouldn’t agree with me in the end.

I wanted to tell Rep. Rohrabacher my story, I wanted to explain that I have no other home than Costa Mesa, I wanted to speak for all those in my community who are too afraid to talk about their status, all those who live in the shadows and who have had their families torn apart. But when I told him I was an undocumented American he stiffened visibly. He got angry and told me he “hates illegals.” He pointed his finger at me and asked — who are you, that you think you’re so important?

A veteran U.S. foreign-policy expert told the Weekly, "If Dana’s right-wing fans knew the truth about his actual, working relationship with the Taliban and its representatives in the Middle East and in the United States, they wouldn’t be so happy."

I dunno, the right wing has a lot in common with the Taliban. Before that unfortunate incident on 9/11 Dana and his pal Grover Norquist were bffs with the super-conservative, highly religious, patriarchal Taliban. I'm going to guess they don't like "illegals" either.